Silver ATB Quarter?

Question- I have a 2000P ATB Virginia Quarter that looks totally silver. There it appears to not to be a clad quarter. It weighs 5.8 grams and it rings like a silver quarter. It can't be, right. ATB Quarters that are silver only are made in San Francisco. Can it be plated?

Thanks in advance.

 

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Question- I have a 2000P State Virginia Quarter that looks totally silver. There it appears to not to be a clad quarter. It weighs 5.8 grams and it rings like a silver quarter. It can't be, right. State Quarters that are silver only are made in San Francisco. Can it be plated?

Thanks in advance. View attachment 1174527 View attachment 1174528 View attachment 1174529

 

Sorry for the double post. It is a State Quarter, not an ATB

 

The color in those photos does not look like silver to me. I think that it has been plated with something.

 

Agreed. It is a very unnatural looking coin . . . .

Z

 

Don't know about your coin but I am cringing looking at those metal forceps on the coin

 

Still looks unnatural to me, unless made of unobtainium, then it looks just fine . . . .

Z

 

There is an industry that has grown up around coating these and similar quarters with gold, silver and platinum. I'm thinking that is what it is.

 

One post is enough.

 

expat - the foresees were not tight, it was just to hold the quarter upright. Thanks for the comments and the information. Sorry for the second post. I clicked the wrong burrito after I made my corrections on the ATB quarter.

 

Made in China???

 

Most likely plated. They sell these at a coin shop I've been to- usually in year sets of State quarters ranging from 1999-2008. Either silver or platinum plated. Worth $0.25.

 

These played quarter sets made Mike Mezack a household name!

 

Basically, if you touch a quarter with metal stronger then the quarter... It's gonna leave a mark. No matter how light you touched it.

 

They plated these and sold them on the cable selling coin show.
I have a couple that were plated in gold that I found.
Looks better in hand. The other one I have is also South Dakota.

 

Yes, the coin barkers on TV have been selling gold, silver and platinum plated quarters on TV for years. I almost fell out of my chair one night when one of them called a platinum plated set of State Quarters "a great investment" one night. A real coin dealer could be hung up by the yard irons for touting real coins as "an investment" let alone trash like that.

 

Back before the GSA CC dollar sales, where they used similar language, any coin dealer who uttered something like that could expect a visit from the SEC for selling unlicensed securities and they could expect heavy fines at a minimum, and possibly Federal charges. Back then you NEVER referred to coins as an "investment". Today they can be more lenient but it is still not a good idea to refer to coins as an investment when selling them.

 

Let's see, my "baby" coin, a 1794 cent was purchased back in 1967 or so from First Coinvestors.

 

It's sad --they prey on older people

 

WOW! That takes me back.

First Coinvestors was run by a guy named Stanley Applebaum. What he sold was anything but "investment grade material." He was noted for selling coins with rhodium plating and other problems created by less than competent coin doctors. Fortunately, even then, when I was high school, I knew better than get involved with him.

In the 1970s I taught a coin collecting course at a local junior college. One night, one of my students brought in an “investment portfolio” from First Coinvestors. All of the coins had something wrong with them and had been played with. The sad part was, if the coins had only been left alone, the guy could have sold them for a small profit. But since they were missed with and “problem coins,” he was still stuck.

In the mid 1970s, Mr. Applebaum turned over a new leaf. He apologized from his prior behavior. (Excuse me, but it was like an old prostitute trying to get back her virginity.) He hired Walter Breen as a consultant and published Breen’s book, Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States and Colonial Proof Coins 1722 – 1977. The book was quite good for its time and became a collectors’ item that was worth a premium price for a number of years. Personally, I still think that the book is quite useful.

A one point, Applebaum also hired Don Taxy who was the other leading numismatic author of the period.

First Coinvestors and Mr. Applebaum are now a part of numismatic history.